Young child struck by vehicle, flown to Atlanta for treatment

A nine-year-old little girl was seriously injured Monday afternoon when she was struck by a vehicle on S. 15th St.

According to Patrolman Austin Massey, of the Griffin Police Department Uniform Patrol Division, the incident occurred as the child attempted to cross the roadway.

“He (the driver) had stopped on Meriwether Street for oncoming traffic and had just turned to travel north on S. 15th St.,” Massey said. “The victim lives at the corner of 15th and Meriwether streets. The child was on the curb on the east side of the roadway, trying to cross S. 15th Street. She was looking northbound and didn’t see the truck approaching. He (the driver) struck her with the right passenger side of his vehicle.”

Authorities say the nine-year-old little girl was accompanied by a friend of the same age who was looking southbound and saw the vehicle approaching.

“She (the victim) had a friend with her. From what I gather, one was looking one way and the other was looking the other way. From what I understand, one of the saw the truck coming and the other one didn’t,” Massey said. “Her friend was also a nine-year-old little girl, and every time I tried to speak with her, she started crying, so I got what information I could without making the situation worse.”

“From what they (EMTs) said on scene, she did have a cut on her eye, but it was already bandaged up when I got there,” Massey said. “He (the EMT) said they were going to fly her to Atlanta, and that they were heading to the airport.”

The child was subsequently transported to Egleston Children’s Hospital for treatment.

The victim’s mother was present at the scene of the incident.

“The little girl lives in the house right in front of where it happened. Her mother was on scene when I got there,” Massey said.

The driver of the truck, whose account of the incident was corroborated by an independent witness, was not cited.

“He actually had the right-of-way because he was driving a vehicle in the roadway and the child tried to run across the road,” Massey explained. “He, the driver, said he was going probably 10 to 15 miles per hour, and I had a witness in another truck who saw the whole incident and told me the same thing.”

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